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Brutus, the Honourable Dog (From my memoir-in-progress, Up to the Hills)

By Anita Mathias

Alsatian puppy

Alsatian puppy (Image credit)

Desperation, pushiness and luck: All these helped us acquire our gorgeous Alsatian I called Brutus

My father’s brother, Eric, who lived in Bombay, across the country, asked us to pick up a puppy for him from the litter of the pure-bred Alsatian guard dog of the American priests at Xavier Labour Relations Institute, the local American Jesuit-run business school.

We did not have a dog, since my mother had absolutely no interest in dogs, and my father dramatically declared he hated them. My sister and I, however, adored them, and had befriended all the dogs in the neighbourhood, even the fierce Alsatian guard-dogs. We stopped outside the gates that said, “Beware of the dog,”, the guards smiled at us while we called to the dogs, “Jai, Jai,” “Tibby, Tibby,” and the big furry monster dogs bounded up to be petted. And dog and children were ecstatic.

In an astonishing error of judgment, my father took my sister and I to pick up the puppy. A litter of furry adorable Alsatian puppies! I cuddled one. It wriggled in my arms; its soft fur brushed against my neck; it licked me. I fell deep in love.

“I want it, Pa,” I said.

“No. No. Anita, put it down, put it down,” my father growled,

“No, no, I want it.” And my sister and I pleaded, “Please can we have one too.”

“No! Ma can’t stand dogs. And I hate them. No!” he said tight-lipped, mortified. Public scenes and being the center of attention were torture for him.

“Oh, let her have it,” said the kindly Irish-American priests. “The family dog. It’s part of childhood,” they said, recalling a golden time; American suburbia; the fifties…

“Pleeeease, Pa. We love it,” my sister and I repeated, desperately, deducing victory from his furious embarrassment. Unable to withstand this chorus, he assented—reluctantly.

* * *

We returned home, unbelieving and ecstatic.  “Two puppies,” cried my mother, who had no time for animals, for whom one night with a dog was more than enough.

“One is for us,” we declared!

“What rubbish!  Noel? You’re joking. Noel?” my mother squawked, looking at my father, incredulously, imploringly.

“What to do, lovie?” he said weakly. “Those idiots.”

He looked at her meaningfully, shrugged; I thought I detected collusion.  Were they going to return our puppy?

* * *

I slept that night with the puppy in a cardboard box on the floor next to my pillow, letting him bite my dangled fingers, so I would know if they took him away.  The next day, we watched him vigilantly.

Dogfood was then unheard of in India. We fed the just-weaned pup boiled rice and meat, and he had violent diarrohea. My mother remembered the dysentery I had almost died of as a baby, and my emergency hospital baptism, and threw herself into nursing the pup. And as Antoine St Exupery points out, you are forever responsible for what you have tamed.  The puppy stayed.

* * *

 I called him Brutus, The Honorable Dog.  I was captivated when I was eleven by the magical rhetoric of Julius Caesar, to which I was introduced by my father who could recite, But yesterday, the word of Caesar might have stood out against the world, now lies he here, and none so poor to do him reverence with pure enjoyment.

All our games featured Brutus.  We cast spells on him so that he would remain a bandicoot-eyed puppy, but he grew, grew, becoming temperamental, irascible, snappish, apt to nip us when we dragged him out for a petting from under the beds where he retreated from the heat, and devoted to no one, ironically, but to my father, who still professed to hate dogs, but ensured the cook brushed his thick fur and trained him. And early each morning, my father threw a ball for him daily across our three front lawns, a good half acre, so that the fine animal would remain sleek, sinewy and strong.

We had Brutus for just three years. My father retired at 60 from Tata’s at the mandatory retirement age, and got a new job at XLRI, the local American-Jesuit run business school. A flat came with the job, a three bedroom flat after our sprawling four bedroom sixteen room house, and, according to the rules: No animals.

My shy father, of course, would die rather than ask for exceptions or favours, and so we gave Brutus away to a colleague who wanted him as a watchdog. The man was vegetarian, and refused to give him meat, but promised him lots of fresh milk from his buffalo. I hope he kept his promise.

 

Goals

Start Date—August 27th, 2012

Completion Date—August 31st, 2013

Word Count Goal-120,000

Words per day Goal—550 words a day

 

Progress (Aiming to write 6 days a week, excluding Sundays)

Day 60—26219 (6781 words behind, whoa!!)

More from my site

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  • In the Beginning: Rosaries and Steel  (The first chapter of my memoir, “Mind has Mountains.”) In the Beginning: Rosaries and Steel (The first chapter of my memoir, “Mind has Mountains.”)
  • The Things My Father Said (From my Memoir: Up to the Hills)The Things My Father Said (From my Memoir: Up to the Hills)
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Anita Mathias: About Me

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My Books

Wandering Between Two Worlds: Essays on Faith and Art

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Francesco, Artist of Florence: The Man Who Gave Too Much

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The Story of Dirk Willems

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Premier Digital Awards 2015 - Finalist - Blogger of the year
Runner Up Christian Media Awards 2014 - Tweeter of the year

Recent Posts

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  • A Mind of Life and Peace in the Middle of a Global Pandemic
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  • On Loving That Which Love You Back
  • “An Autobiography in Five Chapters” and Avoiding Habitual Holes  
  • Shining Faith in Action: Dirk Willems on the Ice
  • The Story of Dirk Willems: The Man who Died to Save His Enemy

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What I’m Reading

Childhood, Youth, Dependency: The Copenhagen Trilogy
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Amazing Faith: The Authorized Biography of Bill Bright
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On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
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Acedia & me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life
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Andrew Marr


A History of the World
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Opened Ground: Poems, 1966-96
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anita.mathias

Writer, Blogger, Reader, Mum. Christian. Instaing Oxford, travel, gardens and healthy meals. Oxford English alum. Writing memoir. Lives in Oxford, UK

Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford # Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford #walking #tranquility #naturephotography #nature
So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And h So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And here we are at one of the world’s most famous and easily recognisable sites.
#stonehenge #travel #england #prehistoric England #family #druids
And I’ve blogged https://anitamathias.com/2020/09/13/on-not-wasting-a-desert-experience/
So, after Paul the Apostle's lightning bolt encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he went into the desert, he tells us...
And there, he received revelation, visions, and had divine encounters. The same Judean desert, where Jesus fasted for forty days before starting his active ministry. Where Moses encountered God. Where David turned from a shepherd to a leader and a King, and more, a man after God’s own heart.  Where Elijah in the throes of a nervous breakdown hears God in a gentle whisper. 
England, where I live, like most of the world is going through a desert experience of continuing partial lockdowns. Covid-19 spreads through human contact and social life, and so we must refrain from those great pleasures. We are invited to the desert, a harsh place where pruning can occur, and spiritual fruitfulness.
A plague like this has not been known for a hundred years... John Piper, after his cancer diagnosis, exhorted people, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”—since this was the experience God permitted you to have, and He can bring gold from it. Pandemics and plagues are permitted (though not willed or desired) by a Sovereign God, and he can bring life-change out of them. 
Let us not waste this unwanted, unchosen pandemic, this opportunity for silence, solitude and reflection. Let’s not squander on endless Zoom calls—or on the internet, which, if not used wisely, will only raise anxiety levels. Let’s instead accept the invitation to increased silence and reflection
Let's use the extra free time that many of us have long coveted and which has now been given us by Covid-19 restrictions to seek the face of God. To seek revelation. To pray. 
And to work on those projects of our hearts which have been smothered by noise, busyness, and the tumult of people and parties. To nurture the fragile dreams still alive in our hearts. The long-deferred duty or vocation
So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I have totally sunk into the rhythm of it, and have got quiet, very quiet, the quietest spell of time I have had as an adult.
I like it. I will find going back to the sometimes frenetic merry-go-round of my old life rather hard. Well, I doubt I will go back to it. I will prune some activities, and generally live more intentionally and mindfully.
I have started blocking internet of my phone and laptop for longer periods of time, and that has brought a lot of internal quiet and peace.
Some of the things I have enjoyed during lockdown have been my daily long walks, and gardening. Well, and reading and working on a longer piece of work.
Here are some images from my walks.
And if you missed it, a blog about maintaining peace in the middle of the storm of a global pandemic
https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/  #walking #contemplating #beauty #oxford #pandemic
A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine. A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine.  We can maintain a mind of life and peace during this period of lockdown by being mindful of our minds, and regulating them through meditation; being mindful of our bodies and keeping them happy by exercise and yoga; and being mindful of our emotions in this uncertain time, and trusting God who remains in charge. A new blog on maintaining a mind of life and peace during lockdown https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/
In the days when one could still travel, i.e. Janu In the days when one could still travel, i.e. January 2020, which seems like another life, all four of us spent 10 days in Malta. I unplugged, and logged off social media, so here are some belated iphone photos of a day in Valetta.
Today, of course, there’s a lockdown, and the country’s leader is in intensive care.
When the world is too much with us, and the news stresses us, moving one’s body, as in yoga or walking, calms the mind. I am doing some Yoga with Adriene, and again seeing the similarities between the practice of Yoga and the practice of following Christ.
https://anitamathias.com/2020/04/06/on-yoga-and-following-jesus/
#valleta #valletamalta #travel #travelgram #uncagedbird
Images from some recent walks in Oxford. I am copi Images from some recent walks in Oxford.
I am coping with lockdown by really, really enjoying my daily 4 mile walk. By savouring the peace of wild things. By trusting that God will bring good out of this. With a bit of yoga, and weights. And by working a fair amount in my garden. And reading.
How are you doing?
#oxford #oxfordinlockdown #lockdown #walk #lockdownwalks #peace #beauty #happiness #joy #thepeaceofwildthings
Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social d Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social distancing. The first two are my own garden.  And I’ve https://anitamathias.com/2020/03/28/silver-and-gold-linings-in-the-storm-clouds-of-coronavirus/ #corona #socialdistancing #silverlinings #silence #solitude #peace
Trust: A Message of Christmas He came to earth in Trust: A Message of Christmas  He came to earth in a  splash of energy
And gentleness and humility.
That homeless baby in the barn
Would be the lynchpin on which history would ever after turn
Who would have thought it?
But perhaps those attuned to God’s way of surprises would not be surprised.
He was already at the centre of all things, connecting all things. * * *
Augustus Caesar issued a decree which brought him to Bethlehem,
The oppressions of colonialism and conquest brought the Messiah exactly where he was meant to be, the place prophesied eight hundred years before his birth by the Prophet Micah.
And he was already redeeming all things. The shame of unwed motherhood; the powerlessness of poverty.
He was born among animals in a barn, animals enjoying the sweetness of life, animals he created, animals precious to him.
For he created all things, and in him all things hold together
Including stars in the sky, of which a new one heralded his birth
Drawing astronomers to him.
And drawing him to the attention of an angry King
As angelic song drew shepherds to him.
An Emperor, a King, scholars, shepherds, angels, animals, stars, an unwed mother
All things in heaven and earth connected
By a homeless baby
The still point on which the world still turns. The powerful centre. The only true power.
The One who makes connections. * * *
And there is no end to the wisdom, the crystal glints of the Message that birth brings.
To me, today, it says, “Fear not, trust me, I will make a way.” The baby lay gentle in the barn
And God arranges for new stars, angelic song, wise visitors with needed finances for his sustenance in the swiftly-coming exile, shepherds to underline the anointing and reassure his parents. “Trust me in your dilemmas,” the baby still says, “I will make a way. I will show it to you.” Happy Christmas everyone.  https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/24/trust-a-message-of-christmas/ #christmas #gemalderieberlin #trust #godwillmakeaway
Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Gratitude journal, habit tracker, food and exercise journal, bullet journal, with time sheets, goal sheets and a Planner. Everything you’d like to track.  Here’s a post about it with ISBNs https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/23/life-changing-journalling/. Check it out. I hope you and your kids like it!
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